From growing up without a mother to becoming a mother: Motherhood experiences of women raised in institutional care

Introduction: Motherhood constitutes a psychodynamic space wherein early relational experiences and caregiving processes from childhood are unconsciously re-enacted. For individuals raised in institutional care, the effects of early abandonment are often reflected in their parenting practices. Aim: This study aims to gain an in-depth understanding of the motherhood experiences of women who were raised in institutional care, through the lens of the psychological reflections of institutional environments and within the framework of intergenerational transmission. Method: Drawing upon psychoanalytic theory, this study adopts Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as a qualitative research method. Participants were selected through purposive sampling. Inclusion criteria required participants to have become mothers after the age of eighteen and to have children between the ages of three and twelve. In total, 21 women who voluntarily agreed to participate were included in the study. Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews and observation notes, and analyzed using the MAXQDA 24 software. Findings: Seven main themes emerged from the data: (1) Growing Up with a Lack of Maternal Affection: Traumatic Experiences; (2) Reflections of Internal Conflicts in Institutional and Caregiver Relationships; (3) Becoming a Mother Without a Constructed Female Identity: The Search for "A Home of My Own"; (4) Reconstruction of Maternal Representations in the Formation of Motherhood; (5) Psychosocial Challenges in Maternal Identity and Coping Mechanisms; (6) Mother–Child Relationships: Perceptions, Boundaries, and Containing Functions; (7) Strengths in Motherhood Rooted in Institutional Upbringing Conclusion: The study concluded that intergenerational transmission played a significant role in the motherhood experiences of women who grew up in the institution. Most participants avoided identifying with their mothers in their maternal identities, and although they faced challenges in providing a nurturing role in their relationships with their children, they demonstrated sincere dedication to building their motherhood identity through love as a strength. Furthermore, the institution was found to be inadequate in forming an internal object representation as a space; it did not offer an inclusive frameworks during childhood, and the participants' experiences reflected this lack as a challenging factors in their motherhood experiences. The findings were discussed in relation to the existing literature, and recommendations were provided for practitioners and researchers.